I don’t read Friedman, or any other NYT columnist, thanks [wholeheartedly] to TimeSelect. However, his column from 12/20 is so beyond the pale. The Arabist has the full column but short Friedman: Arabs are a tribe of lying, conniving, cheating, haters who are genetically unable to stop their lying, fighting, cheating and hating - esp. when it comes to Palestine. So, being a Great Power we shouldn’t have gotten involved with Small Tribes.
Oh, the burden of imperialism. Go ahead and substitute “Jew” for “Arab” in that column [hey, they both Semitic people!] and let me know how that goes. That such racist pablum is published in our paper of record is indicative of how this country feels about Muslims and Arabs. Virgil Goode, have a Merry Christmas.
Well, yes then. I had meant to ask you if you’d read the whole “if their religion is so great, then why do the Israelis whoop their arses…” thing. So you have. The worst part is Friedman thinks what he wrote is broad-thinking, liberal, incisive analysis. He would be mortified to be told he’s a clueless bigot.
ìGreat powers should never get involved in the politics of small tribes.î
They always do. Can’t think of a single great power that didn’t.
I admire the man… He says so much yet he says nothing and keeps making the best seller list as well keep a very prestigious job. He is my role-model!
Fully agree. Glenn Greenwald has done a good job ripping Friedman apart. Friedman is such a racist, idiotic, smug blowhard.
Friedman has a gift for idealistic- and evenhanded-sounding slogans that leave the incorrect impression that he is moderate or “independent” on these issues. The reality is that for all his philosophizing his basic worldview differs little from Islamophobic hardliners. He periodically slips and shows his true colors, as in this case. Expect him to “balance” this out with some trivial, toothless criticism of Israel or other rhetorical gesture that, unlike offensive nonsense like this, has no impact whatsoever on policy. He’s a new, slicker practioner of hasbara.
The worst part is how sloppy he is, and with evidently no professional consequences. He regularly issues declarations that are embarassingly disconnected from reality or whose ideological blinkers would make Pangloss gag, yet he still gets billed as some kind of no-nonsense, pragmatic observer of international affairs.